> Thanks for your info.

You're quite welcome.

>Does a spokeshave really work that well in these sort of places -

YES.

>seems like a crude tool?

I have heard of doctors making a mess with a scalpel and have seen beautiful art made from chainsaws. The crudeness lies not in the tool, but the tool pusher.

> Are you using a variable speed orb sander?

Yes. Bosch 3107 VS. Nice unit, bought new for this project, am making friends with it as the boat comes along.

>Could you rate the relative effectiveness of smoothing out delicate decorative areas of these 2 tools?

They tools are utterly different. First the sander. I use it, in this context, to *roughen* the surface uniformly after having faired the area into the proper shape. (The surface of the wood that I have just taken a curl from with the spokeshave is shiny smooth, assuming I have set the blade properly and have not caught some tear-out on one of the strips. By the way, both of these problems are also user issues, keeping the blade sharp and using the tool properly.) Of course, the sander will smooth surfaces too, and it does a nice job of it. But I have far less control over the sander than I have over the spokeshave. I mean, the cutting edge/surface is MUCH larger and it's in constant motion. Both these factors detract from precise usage. If I try to fair out a concave section with an arc less than the flex of the pad of the sander, I wind up using the edge of the pad, and that will either gouge or pound the wood. The spokeshave can handle a radius of practically zero since it is cutting along a line.

The spokeshave is among my favorite tools. Excellent control, fine finish, quiet, inexpensive to operate, dust free are all advantages over the VS-ROS. It is *important* to keep the blade sharp. Sharper is better. It is possible to sharpen a spokeshave or plane blade so perfectly that you can draw curls of wood even from endgrain. I myself have done it. The sharpening technique I use is detailed below. The spokeshave usage technique is also detailed below.

I would offer these two links:

Sharpening tech:

http://people.ne.mediaone.net/spokeshave/SCARY.HTM

Spokeshave info:

http://people.ne.mediaone.net/spokeshave/TEACHSHAVE.HTM

Ed Valley